Socso benefits for 20 MH17 tragedy paid out

KUCHING (Bernama) – The Social Security Organisation (Socso) has made payments for funeral expenses as well as the first monthly pension to the beneficiaries of 20 of the people killed in the MAS Flight MH17 tragedy in Ukraine last July, Human Resource Minister Datuk Seri Richard Riot said yesterday.

He said the payments were made to five passengers and 15 crew of the ill-fated aircraft.

Speaking to reporters after launching a Certified Medical Impairment Assessor (CMIA) course here, he said the funeral benefits amounted to RM1,500 while the quantum of monthly pension payment depended on the length of the contributing period.

“The amount of monthly pension varied between RM575 and RM2,675,” he said.

On the Socso contributors who were among the passengers on board MAS Flight MH370 which went missing on March 8, Riot said the benefits could not be disbursed as their fate was not known yet.

“Following international law, only after they remain missing for seven years will they be deemed to have died and the payments disbursed,” he said.

Flight MH17 crashed in eastern Ukraine on July 17 as it was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur with 283 passengers and 15 crew on board. The Boeing 777-200 aircraft was shot down over the troubled country.